Word.ws English Dictionary

double-nickel

double-nickel noun: the national speed limit of 55 miles per hour introduced in the USA in 1974.

Noun

double-nickel (plural double-nickels)

  1. (US, slang) The national speed limit of 55 miles per hour introduced in the USA in 1974.
    • But in 1982 they found a loophole: Keep the double-nickel speed limit, but effectively allow motorists to drive up to 65 by designating that speed a “waste of a finite resource” and setting the fine at $15.2015 February 17, Howard Fischer, “Bill takes teeth out of state speed limits”, in Arizona Daily Star
    • Peckinpah is just as interested in the old golf-cart codger who says “Damn the double-nickel!” (in reference to the 55mph speed limit) as he is in Duck or Lyle, and much more so than in Ali MacGraw’s character, along for the ride and marquee value.2015 August 20, Michael Barrett, “Damn the Double Nickel: "Convoy" Shows a Great Director Slumming”, in Pop Matters
  2. (US, slang) The number 55 (by extension).
    • This night was insane. Knicks win, Sixers win, Wolves win. Kyrie drops a double-nickel.2015 January 29, Matt Moore, “Five-Star Review: Kyrie Irving's double-nickel night”, in CBSSports

Verb

double-nickel (third-person singular simple present double-nickels, present participle (US) double-nickeling or (UK) double-nickelling, simple past and past participle (US) double-nickeled or (UK) double-nickelled)

  1. To travel at 55 miles per hour.
    • Rose’s EarthCruiser – seven hundred thousand dollars’ worth of imported rolling steel, the best RV money could buy – led the parade. But slowly, just double-nickeling it.2013, Stephen King, Doctor Sleep, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, chapter 2, section 3, page 91

Forms of double-nickel

Noun
pluraldouble-nickels
Verb
third-person singular presentdouble-nickels
present participle USdouble-nickeling
present participle UKdouble-nickelling
past participle USdouble-nickeled
past USdouble-nickeled
past participle UKdouble-nickelled
past UKdouble-nickelled

Origin of double-nickel

From trucker slang in the 1970s referring to the national 55 mph speed limit, based on nickel (“five-cent coin”).

Questions about double-nickel

What does double-nickel mean?
Double-nickel means the national speed limit of 55 miles per hour introduced in the USA in 1974.
What part of speech is double-nickel?
Double-nickel can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of double-nickel?
The plural of double-nickel is double-nickels.

Words near double-nickel in the dictionary

  1. double-masted
  2. double-minded
  3. double-mindedly
  4. double-mindedness
  5. double-muscled
  6. double-nickel
  7. double-nickeled
  8. double-nickeling
  9. double-nickels
  10. double-nosed Andean tiger hound
  11. double-nosed Andean tiger hounds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double-nickel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “double-nickel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/double-nickel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.